Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Plantation Shutters–It’s a Love/Hate Relationship

Plantation shutters… those gorgeous wood window adornments that date back to ancient Greek and Roman times, but whose popularity rose in the decadent mansions of the South during the Civil War for not only their ability to filter the amount of light inside the home, but also for their ability to keep the neighbors wondering what you were up to…

There’s no denying it, they’re gorgeous. To top that off, they’re functional too, and you know those are the two requirements for items in my home, right?

When we first toured our home, my eye was instantly drawn to the plantation shutters that were throughout the home on every window. I was in shutter love.

And while I must admit that I still love them (quite a bit), I also have to be real about the other side of plantation shutters:

The upkeep.

That, my friends, is the never-ending layer of dust that likes to settle on my beautiful plantation shutters! Ugh – if you thought you despised dusting the usual horizontal surfaces, just wait until each of your windows has thirty additional surfaces to dust. Hence, the hate part of this relationship.

According to Martha’s spring cleaning checklist, wood blinds only need to be “washed” one or two times a year. Baaaahahahahahahaha! I’d say that’s a tad bit unrealistic, Ms. Stewart. If I only dusted these bad boys once or twice a year, we’d be swimming in dust bunnies!

Because it is quite the chore, I try to tackle one room at a time when it’s dusting time… which makes it a little less painful, but painful nonetheless. For instance, I just cleaned my oldest daughter’s shutters while I started a little remodeling project (more on that to come) and it took me a good while (and a few curse words) to get all of the dust gone. Ick. But when I was done… there they were again, perfection packaged up in a bunch of pretty wooden slats.

Cue hallelujah chorus here.

Love~Hate~Love~Hate~Love

So what about you? Do you have plantation shutters? Do you feel the same as me? (Please tell me I’m not the only one!)

1 comment:

I don't have plantation shutters, (my husband has been dying for them, though) but we do have thick slat wooden blinds. I use the brush attachment on my vacuum to clean them. It works really well and it's relatively quick, too. It's also great for the dust on air return vents.